Quote:
Originally Posted by ninja3575
Yeah... so battery powered bikes are on the horizon ... but are they really "GREEN" ??? Well the obvious answer is yes since they don't consume fossil fuels, which is true.. but theres always a trade off.
Ok... my argument will seem a little diminished without practical numbers to work with but given our already over-burdened electrical grid... Where are we gonna get all the extra power necessary to power the potential boon in electric hybrids and pure electric vehicles?? ... Where does the vast majority of electricity come from? more specifically... how is electricity generated?
The Answer is.... WE BURN COAL !! COAL is the second largest pollutant, in terms of Green house gases, in the US !! Large amounts of CO2 gases are generated to feed our ELECTRIC needs here in the states...
So switching to electric vehicles reduces carbon emissions via fossil fuel burn off... but it is offset by an increase in consumer consumption of electricity... electricity that is produced by burning Coal ... and we have an incredible amount of coal here in the US...
Damn, i'm being such a wet blanket to this threads initial intentions... So getting back on topic.. DAMN that bike looks sweet... however... at 65 mpg with my ninjette... its gonna be hard for me to pay triple for something that only gets me 60 to 100 miles in one direction... but jump the total trip miles to 200... and we may have a winner...  |
You're right... we do have a lot of coal. Last time I checked, being less reliant on other countries for your energy needs was a good thing.
Also, CO2 is not a pollutant. Some say that more CO2 was released in the eruption of Mt. St. Helens than in all fossil fuels man has ever consumed. Though I kinda doubt that, CO2 is completely natural and NOT a pollutant.